Witness slams findings into orcas killing great white in SA waters
A tourism operator who watched a pod of orcas kill a great white shark in gulf waters is angered by a Flinders University study into the attack.
More than a decade after a pod of killer whales were witnessed attacking and killing a great white shark near Port Lincoln, Flinders University has released its research into the event.
And the results have drawn the ire of a tourism operator who was there on the day of the attack.
Back in February 2015, about six killer whales were seen by staff and customers across two cage-diving boats at the Neptune Islands Group Marine Park in South Australia “hunting” the shark.
“Back when it happened, we were seeing sharks every day,” Matt Waller, one of the operators on the day, told InDaily
“And the day this happened was the best day of the week. It was mental. Glassy, clear. We were having sharks all morning. And then the whales showed up.”
Waller said the whales moved quickly, “hunting” the five-metre-long male shark.
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“The killers herded it,” he said.
“There were three females, an alpha female and two pups in the group.
“And the three big females disappeared. The two pups then circled the shark up to the surface and then the alpha body slammed the top of the shark and it was all done.”
Waller said the effect was instant.
“The moment that happened, the sharks disappeared. It was a shark drought.”
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He said operators in the area went from seeing “five sharks a day” to none at all.
“We knew the killers would impact sharks – but no one saw a shark at Neptune for three and a half months after that.”
On Wednesday, Flinders University released a study based on 12 years of acoustic telemetry and wildlife tourism sighting data to test whether the 2015 absence was exceptional – or simply part of natural white shark behaviour at the Neptune Islands.
Led by Dr Isabella Reeves it found it was unlikely the attack was the only reason for the prolonged disappearance of sharks.
“Our results show that killer whales can absolutely trigger an immediate response from white sharks, but they are not always the whole story when it comes to long-term shark disappearances,” Reeves said.
“Across the 12-year study, we recorded six prolonged absences of more than 42 days, and only one of them coincided with the presence of killer whales.
“The longest absence we recorded was even longer than the 2015 event and occurred when no killer whales were detected at all.
“This shows that while killer whales can trigger immediate short-term departures, they are not always the sole driver of extended disappearances of sharks from their local sites.”
But Waller criticised the findings.
“I’m a business operator deeply involved in shark behaviour and I believe we saw a change in the sharks’ patterns after that happened,” he said.
“This affected business, so we went over it with a fine tooth comb. We analysed it, and the moment that happened, everyone stopped seeing sharks in the bay.
“It’s really hardcore for a scientist to say it didn’t scare the sharks away.”
